World Cup malware rampages in the web says Symantec

You are here: News > News > World Cup malware rampages in the web says Symantec

» IT Security NEWS

» 13 June 2010

Caution is set out by Symantec Hosted Services or SHS as World Cup-themed pieces of malicious software are being used once again in targeted assaults. The vicious criminals’ method has become more complicated so as to affect many computer systems owned by various individuals and companies.

Specific country becomes a target

About 45 malware-containing e-mails were already detected by the security firm, according to SHS’s malware operations engineer Tony Millington. As written on Millington’s blog post, these harmful e-mails were aiming at the different corporations based in Brazil.

Web villains turn out to be more creative

Millington added that the online crooks take advantage of the anticipation for this coming 2010 World Cup, which will be held in South Africa. The criminals make use of social engineering type of assault in order to lure the users into an activity that may eventually damage their machines and may also lead to disclosure of confidential corporate data.

Two types of methods are being used by the web criminals when carrying out their targeted attacks via e-mail. These include the following: e-mail with a PDF document attached to it and a mail containing suspicious-looking link within the message.

Authenticity of a mail is difficult to distinguish

People fall easily as victims because the e-mails that they receive appear to be genuine. Hackers make the e-mails look as if these were genuine with the use of the names of popular manufacturers of sportswear. Additionally, a malicious PDF is attached to the e-mail and it also has a link that will direct the user to a server where the malicious software may be downloaded. According to Millington, this shady scheme was deemed to be very effective that it increases the chance of the online attackers when it comes to infecting computer systems.

Win-win situation for the vicious hackers

As explained by the malware operations engineer, the success rate for criminals is proven to be higher with the utilization of the two methods stated. This is because the malicious link is left embedded within the mail even if the antivirus scanner detects and deletes the PDF document. Hence, there is still a possibility of infecting the system once the mail arrives in the account of the user.

The malicious software is named as SpyEve and this is considered to be a kind of botnet virus that is created to illegally gather private information. Based on the statement coming from SHS, the malware is used in order to exploit the glitch in the PDF and it also allows the criminals to have total control over the compromised system.

Know more about the company by viewing any of the given links: SecPoint Products, SecPoint News, and SecPoint Press.

Click Here For Web Shop

Reviews of SecPoint.com